The Master Cleanse

After the second week of doing The Brad Plan, my mother-in-law started telling me about a diet program someone she knew well had been doing. She was very excited about it and was doing lots of research. She lead me to a website put together by people who her friend knows well. The site talks about overall health, as well as selling this diet program she was planning to do. In reading over it, I came upon the importance of detoxifying and cleansing your system. This lead me to a link regarding The Master Cleanse. I'd heard about it from a friend who did what she called The Lemonade Diet. I became more interested the more I read.

A serving of lemonade consists of 2 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 2 tbsp of Organic Grade B Maple Syrup (not the same stuff you put on your pancakes), 1/10 tsp of cayenne pepper, and 10 oz. spring or reverse osmosis water. The cayenne makes it very spicy, which can be a little tough to take down, but overall, it's not too bad. Easiest to make a pitcher at a time, since this is your "food" for at least 10 days! No other food is allowed. And the only other drinks are water and the flushes.

The Master Cleanse, written by Stanley Burroughs in 1941, is not designed as a weight loss system. It is to detoxify your body and give it a rest from exerting so much energy on digestion (i.e. fast), so that it can concentrate on pulling the toxins out of your body. A side effect is that you lose weight. In ridding the body of all the junk in our cells, it is said to correct many of our ailments. Ten days is the minimum time suggested, but when your tongue turns a healthy pink (because it gets very white and fuzzy during the detoxing process) is when you know you are done detoxing.

Besides the lemonade, it is important to do the daily flushes. Take a laxative tea at night, then 2 tsp non-iodized sea salt in 32 oz. of water in the morning. The salt water is HARD for me to get down, so I just have to chug it as quickly as I can. And 32 oz. is four glasses or a quarter of a gallon - which is a lot when it tastes bad! Give yourself about an hour and a half before leaving the house. The first day I had to turn around after getting two blocks from the house or else I would have had a major mishap.

I started The Master Cleanse on April 10th. The process for me wasn't all that bad and even though I was hungry at times during the first couple of days, it wasn't anything unmanagable. Commonly, people feel really bad the first two to three days. I think that going from a bad diet of high sugars, starches, and fats directly to this cleanse may cause people to feel so bad. But since I'd already been eating really healthy and had cut addictive food and drink (caffeine) out of my diet for the three weeks prior, I didn't have these horrible symptoms.

The most interesting thing was that I'd walk by the kitchen and think, "I need to make myself something to eat." I'd been very focused on planning my meals with The Brad Plan, so the sight of the kitchen would prompt my concern for what healthy meal I'd make for myself. This was just pure habit. Eating was just a habit. I caught myself thinking this several times in the first two days.

Besides the salt water flush, which I eventually got used to, I liked the empty feeling. As I got lighter, I felt lighter. No bloating, no feeling full or like I ate too much. I was energized! I even continued to push myself at the gym everyday. People automatically think that it's not good for a person to not eat; but fasting is hardly a new concept, and has many benefits. I also heard, "I could never do that! I love food too much." Believe me, you don't love food any more than I do! It's all a matter of wanting to do it. I was committed.

I had full intention of doing the clease for 10 days. I even thought I'd go longer since I felt so good, and I wanted my tongue to go back to pink. But on the 8th day I started pms-ing! I began to crave anything and everything! I decided to start coming off, which takes two days of eating homemade veggie soup broth and working up to OJ and veggie soup. Then reintroducing foods slowly. If you gorge on heavy foods right away, you can do yourself damage, even die. So it's important to ease back in to eating.

I lost 8 lbs in 8 days.